Cost of maintenance, additional vehicle complexities, the increasing cost of new equipment, and the cost of funding will all challenge logistics operators for the rest of 2024 going into 2025.
Increasing vehicle downtime for operators as they experience delays in availability in the main dealer garage network and an increased fleet inefficiency around non planned maintenance issues are also hindering the sector.
Additionally, the skills shortage is making it difficult for companies to employ the right number of fully trained staff.
James Lee, managing director at JLL offers hope suggesting, “The new truck supply is in good shape and the automotive market is buoyant – projected to continue to increase in 2025.
“Operators that react to changes quickly will see continued success. I think more advanced technical innovation in routing and AI will become more prevalent in the market, backed up with telematics to improve vehicle utilisation and uptime.
“Though things currently seem to look bleak, there are opportunities available if we, as a sector, provide the best service we can, fully compliant and all. This way, we will be able to meet challenges head-on and come out the other side successfully.”